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Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 02-08-2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A Saudi Arabia Hajj Hackathon organized by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones in Jeddah, has broken the Guinness World Record for the most number of participants – 2,950 from over 100 countries.<\/p>\n The previous Guinness World Record for simultaneous Hackathon participants was done by India with 2,577 participants in 2012.<\/p>\n Thousands of software developers and computer and information-technology enthusiasts took part in the Hajj hackathon in Jeddah which started on 31 July, 31 and ends 3 August.<\/p>\n The competition focuses on improving Hajj services in food sanitation, finance, transportation, accommodation, communications and crowd management for the estimated two million pilgrims who travel to Saudi Arabia each year.<\/p>\n This year the Hajj Hackathon attracted tech companies from around the world with support from Google.<\/p>\n Steve Wozniak who founded Apple with the late Steve Jobs says the hackathon is useful and productive.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most powerful points of being here is to help the community … as the country has one of the greatest missions: Hajj.\u201d<\/p>\n Saudi counsellor in the Royal Court, head of the Kingdom\u2019s Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones Saud Bin Abdulla al-Kahtani expressed gratitude to King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman for their continuous support which led to this prestigious achievement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Kingdom entering Guinness Records through Hajj Hackathon, confirms the ambition of the Saudi youths that their country is a gate for technology in the region,\u201d referring that this achievement comes in parallel with the Kingdom\u2019s Vision 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n The event is offering cash prizes to the top three participants, amounting to two million Saudi riyals (R 7 million) to transform their ideas into application-based solutions.<\/p>\n \u00a0– Agencies\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n